IN RE AMBASSADOR RICE: Direct from the bottom of the barrel!

Jake Tapper goes slumming with Imus: Ever since he got fired from MSNBC, Don Imus has worked under radar.

That doesn’t mean that he’s not on the air! Yesterday morning, before the press conference, he was ruminating about “this girl,” Susan Rice:

IMUS (11/14/12): And then on another note— Of course there's nothing you can do about it, but are you telling me that Susan Rice, this is a woman who went out there and lied about the Benghazi thing, knew she was lying, trying to tell us it was all about this video. We're talking about this girl being secretary of state? Are you kidding me? Is that right, Bernard?

MCGUIRK: That is exactly right. You might hear that today from the President at 1:30 during his press conference.

Reporting from the land of dead souls, these haggard old losers told the world that “this girl” was lying and knew she was lying. Imus wondered if Bernard was kidding him about “this girl being secretary of state.”

This particular layer of scum lies beneath even Brian and Chris. But Imus can still sell a few books, so Jake Tapper journeyed to Hell to chat with this broken old life-form.

Tapper has a book he’s peddling. To sell a few more copies, Tapper will submit to this:

IMUS: The president got reelected. You guys must all be happy over there at ABC, right?

TAPPER: I had no horse in the race, Mr. Imus.

IMUS: One of the few—actually, I didn't— You’re one of the few reporters, actually, you know you listen to your reports, you don't discern an agenda, so anyway.

TAPPER: I try not to have one.

IMUS: So, is this— Is this legitimate now? They're talking about Susan Rice as secretary of state? Do you think that's real?

TAPPER: I mean, as real as any other possible nominee, as real as John Kerry, as real as many of the others. And obviously there's going to be a lot of, you know, there's going to be a lot of new administration officials in the next few months with the retirements of Panetta and Clinton and others.

IMUS: But it's more real, isn't it, than if I were to say to you that I was being considered for secretary of state. Wouldn't you agree with that?

TAPPER: I would—I would, that would cause me grave concern.

[LAUGHTER]

Jake offered no alternate view about Rice. When in Rome, you behave like the cretins.

We'll spare you the various things Tapper said to Piers Morgan last night. There is no way to track all the bad faith, misstatements and dissembling which clogged the air waves last night.

A potent script is firmly in place. People like Tapper don't push.

The glory days of Imus: In 2006, Al Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth, was released. Even at that late date, Frank Rich was still best pals with the wonderfully brilliant Imus.

Rich went on Imus’ show and trashed Gore’s film all up and down. (The film was “like at the high end of those good-for-you movies that you used to have to watch in high school.”) Frank Rich is such a manifest fool that he didn’t stop the Gore-trashing crap until Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize, a full year later!

At that point, Rich instantly flipped. From that point forward, he odtentatiously kissed Gore’s ass. What else was there to do?